THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
flowers, and very nice small, edible fruit. All of 
these give you not only flowers and fruit, but health- 
ful odors, and foliage which is the perfection of 
shining green. ‘The dwarf oranges hang on two 
or three years, so that you have flowers with green 
fruit and yellow fruit at the same time. Alto- 
gether, I do not know of anything that I should 
recommend to a farmer’s wife as more available 
for house plants than these tropical fruits. They 
will endure the air of almost any room, and do not 
require high temperature. 
After these, my choice among house plants just 
now turns toward fuchsias and _ pelargoniums. 
However, the real joy of growing plants is the 
chance of changing our tastes. “‘Bless the Lord,” 
says Aunt Cynthia, “I ain’t forgotten to change, 
and I spects to change; and when I ain’t changing 
no more, I spects to be daid.” With the pelargo- 
nium and fuchsia I need a pot of heliotrope, and I 
like a plenty of nasturtiums, and am then content. 
The pelargoniums, known as Lady Washingtons, 
are no longer confined to that variety, but exist in su- 
perb sorts — some of them double and others semi- 
double. They should be started from cuttings of 
ripe wood, then slowly shifted to give their first 
[ 226 ] 
